How a Career Placement Test Can Limit Career Choices

Poor career assessment results often occur when using a career placement test because they usually limit career choices by providing a very small number of job possibilities to choose from.

The Dictionary of Occupational Titles when in print listed over 28,000 different career descriptions.

But this dictionary was always outdated because new job types evolve daily.

And there is the real possibility that you might fit a job type that doesn't even exist yet. Your inborn job skills, values and desires could quite possibly point to a job type quite different from commonly known job types.

There are many examples of completely new job types being created by organizations for just one person because somebody decided that the gifts and abilities that a particular person possessed, would benefit their organisation.

So a person was employed even though the organization didn't have any particular job opportunity on offer.
A career placement test will always fail to recognise a great job opportunity like this.

Robert Greenleaf was someone who was reknown for thinking outside the square. In his excellent book Servant Leadership, he talks about how most of the jobs he had in his life were created just for him.

The role of any career counselor who provides career change advice, needs to be particularly vigilant that they are using the best possible practices available.

And it is my belief that a person using a career placement test where the test recommends specific job types at the end of the test, is probably not using best practices.

When someone is seeking help with their career search, then they are usually making some fairly weighty decisions and they need to feel confident that the knowledge and processes being utilized are the best available.

A vocational assessment test that is used to help a person work through their career objectives, will usually stifle the process and produce inferior outcomes compared to other career consulting methods.

This problem is intensified with the current saturation of free online career tests.
This type of career quiz is available to anyone with a computer and the Internet.

However career placement tests often lack verifiable reliability and validity data.
This can result in career choices that can be damaging by either leading a person in a direction that isn't truly suited to them or the more likely scenario, missing possible career options that very much fit who they are.

In my earlier days as a career counselor, I never felt like I was doing my best job when I used career placement tests with clients.

For quite some time I was unable to put my finger on why this was.
Then I became aware that when I had helped clients most effectively, I had not used career tests.

If you do take a vocational test as part of your career development plan, then be very wary of their limiting results and the danger they have of missing out on some types of careers.

Alternative methods when used by good career counselors will nearly always produce better career search results for the client than if a career test is used as part of the process.

The best methods is always to start by analyzing your natural career motivations.
You can do this by using the inborn job skills assessment.

It will take you a bit longer then most career placement tests however the results are nearly always significantly better.

Other career development articles relating to career tests that you may be interested in include: